


The Second Sorting

by WriterwithIdeas



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter RPF, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Community: hoggywartyxmas, Community: sortinghatdrabs, F/M, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Era, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Hogwarts House Sorting, Hogwarts House Sorting Ceremony, Post-Hogwarts, The Sorting Hat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27988743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterwithIdeas/pseuds/WriterwithIdeas
Summary: What would happen if someone put on the sorting hat a second time but got a different answer? The hat cannot tell the future or the paths we are forced into in life so when something big happened to Ida, a 4th year student at Hogwarts, maybe her new path at school would be a bigger change than just a new friend group.
Kudos: 2





	1. Summer's Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING I WILL CONTINUE UPDATING AS SOON AS I CAN!

“Ida, do you want dinner?” Ida heard the familiar phrase from her mother who was standing right outside her door. She wasn’t hungry so she just didn’t respond and curled up more into her quilt. “Ida, answer me.” Valerie said, losing her patients. 

“No, I’m not hungry.” she mumbled under her covers. She could hear a frustrated groan from the hall and then steps down the stairs. A couple moments passed until she heard her mother in a heated conversation with her dad. 

“I just don’t know why I even try with her anymore! She's been home over two weeks and barely even leaves her room!” Her mother's muffled complaints echoed through the house. 

Valerie wasn’t wrong though. Ida got back from her fourth year at Hogwarts two weeks ago and still hasn’t talked about anything with her parents. It didn’t matter to Ida if her mother was frustrated with her for not talking because it would be worse if she did. Talking wasn’t a solution for her. 

“Valerie, she’s only fifteen and got back from a rough year at school. You know what the teachers told us. Just give her some space.” Richard responded. Ida was thankful for her dad’s response but she knew that the teachers didn’t know half of what had happened during the school year. 

The more she thought about it, the tighter of a ball she turned into. Hugging her knees to her chest, Ida took a couple deep breaths, just wanting to calm down. Don’t think about it. She mentally repeated to herself. Don’t cry about it. No one can know about it. Please just forget it ever happened. She was begging just to end up in an accident and forget everything. She didn’t realize it but her nails were digging into her arms to the point that they started drawing blood. 

“Ouch,” Ida whimpered. She peeped out from under her blankets to see that she inadvertently cast a protigo maxima spell (a forcefield). It wasn’t the first time this had happened to her; she was just lucky that her parents were wizards otherwise the ministry of magic would know she used magic outside of Hogwarts. 

“Maybe I should work on that...” Ida felt like randomly casting spells wasn’t a good thing. 

She glanced at her school chest, still packed, and decided to open it for her clothes so she wouldn’t have to do laundry just yet. It was nauseating to her how much yellow clothing she had. Since Ida was a Hufflepuff it wasn’t weird for her to own a lot of yellow clothing, but she didn’t feel like wearing yellow anymore. Too bad it’s almost all the shirts she had. 

She pulled the brightly colored shirt over her head. Ida lifted her red hair out from underneath her shirt. “Maybe I should take a shower.” She thought out loud before crawling back in bed. Hygiene wasn’t a top priority to a girl not planning on leaving her room. 

Summer passed by and Ida barely noticed. She got much thinner than before and lost her baby face along with a lot of other body fat. It wasn’t healthy but she didn’t care, eating wasn’t appealing to her. The closer the next school year got, the more Ida kept telling herself that shed start getting her act together but never did. 

Her mother continued loudly complaining about her to her father, knowing full well that Ida could hear her. Words would echo and blend more and more together so it felt like Ida was reliving every day over again until it was already September first. 

“Ida, you up yet?” Richard asked, knocking on her door. Sadly, she was already up. 

“Yeah,” Ida responded. She was packing her new clothes into her school chest that she had fully unpacked only a couple days ago. 

Ida had gotten new clothes because she had lost so much weight that her clothes didn’t fit her correctly anymore. She was glad for the new outfits because she got to choose different and blander colors. It was a lot of sweatshirt and long sleeves to hide her small body frame. Maybe no would notice her weight loss. 

She had everything a fifth year would need for school packed. Everything except motivation which she lost a long time ago. Her parents had gotten her a cat hoping that it would help her take care of herself while at school. They weren’t totally off. 

He was a light grey with green eyes and Ida enjoyed putting his black bowtie on him. Hanging from the bowtie was a tag that said “My name is Kain. If lost or in trouble please return to Ida Morton.” 

“At least I’ll have you to keep me company at school,” the red head said, smiling sadly. “I’m not ready for this at all.” Regardless of how Ida felt, she had to go to school. 

“Alright Kain, time to get in your kennel.” she said gently. Ida hated having him in a cage like that but it was the rules. She didn’t want to get in trouble and there were rules for a reason. 

“Ready to go Ida?” her parents asked excitedly. She already had her fake smile plastered on her face and gave them thumbs up. She had gotten better at hiding her feelings over the summer. Honesty didn’t mean as much to her anymore. 

They drove to the platform with her bags on a cart that she could wheel around. This isn’t too bad. She sighed to herself. Maybe I can just stay in the bathroom the whole way to Hogwarts. Although it was a ridiculous idea that would never work, it brought some relief to Ida’s nerves. 

She saw the 9¾ platform and slowly walked up to it. She waited a little while for a couple other people to go before her but gave her mom a hug and ran towards the brick wall. She partially had hoped it would be a normal wall and she would be knocked out. 

Once she was through, her anxiety spiked. Ida had seen at least ten people that she used to consider friends. 

“You’ll draw more attention to yourself if you just stand there.” someone says behind her, making the nervous girl jump. She turned around to see that a blonde Slytherin boy wearing a confidant smile. She didn’t know what to really say back. 

“Thanks for the advice.” Ida responded and started walking away. She heard him laugh lightly before getting on the Hogwarts Express before her. When she got on, she started thinking about how long it would take for her to cast the spell she was planning on using during the train ride. She went up and down the aisle, looking for an empty section. She didn’t feel like socializing. 

She was about to look into another compartment when she ran into the Slytherin boy again, he was just coming out of the changing area. 

“Are you looking for a seat, scaredy-puff?” he said, genuinely asking. 

“Yeah, tabby cat.” Ida responded. Tabby cat looked confused by his nickname but then Ida pointed to the black dashes across his face. They looked similar to whiskers. 

“Oh, my friends must have done that.” he said, wiping it off with his uniform's long sleeves. “But if you need a spot to sit scaredy-puff, you can just sit with me and my friends. I don’t think there are any empty cabins left.” Tabby cat offered. 

“Oh- sure, thanks.” Ida responded gratefully. Hufflepuffs wouldn’t approach her if she was around a group of Slytherin boys so it would be a good way to avoid people she knew. 

“By the way, scaredy-puff, what’s your name?” the blond boy asked. Normally she wouldn’t have told him but she felt like she should for some reason. 

“I’m Ida. And you are...?” she asked back. He held out his hand to shake. 

“I’m Piers. Have I seen you around before?” he asks as they both walk towards his friends’ cabin. 

“I don’t think so. Probably at lunch but that doesn’t count.” Ida said, shaking his hand and following him.


	2. Friends? I don't have any

“Scaredy-puff, these are my friends.” Piers said as he opened the sliding doors to his cabin. “Guacamole,” he said point to a boy with brown hair. “Peaches,” he said, pointing to a boy that looked like he was ready to kill Ida. “And Brad.”

“Wait, why do you call him by his name but no one else?” Ida asked. She was trying not to laugh because the names seemed fitting. But the boy that Piers called Brad spoke up.

“It’s not my name. I’m Chris.” he held out his hand.

“I’m Ida.” she said, shaking Chris’s hand.

“So, when did you two become acquainted?” Peaches asked annoyed, not bothering to hide his distaste.

“Oh, I meet tabby cat a few minutes ago.” Ida said, taking an empty seat. The brown-haired Guacamole boy looked confused.

“Tabby- Oooohhhhh. The stripes.” He said, answering his own question before even asking it.

“We weren’t planning on telling him until after we arrived at Hogwarts.” Chris explained, laughing.

“Shut up Brad. That's why scaredy-puff is better than you.” Piers lightly punched his friend on the arm. They seem like a nice group. A _Loyal_ group. The thought gave Ida chills but she managed to keep smiling. When Ida noticed “Peaches” staring, she hoped he hadn’t noted her unease.

“Haven’t you wandered a little too far from your comfort zone, Hufflepuff?” Peaches asked with a sneer. His friends gave him a warning glance but then looked back at Ida. She panicked for a moment, not knowing what to say but then put a small smile on her face.

“You mean hanging with Slytherins or not wearing yellow?” Ida asked while laughing, easing the tension that Peaches had created.

“Actually, why aren’t you in your uniform yet?” Tabby-cat asked. Ida had completely forgotten about her plan and how much time she needed.

“Crap! How long until the train stops?” She asked.

Piers looked up at the clock in the cabin. “About half an hour.”

“Okay, thanks for letting me stay with you for a bit but I have to get going.” Ida said laughing but hurried packing her things.

She heard tabby cat laugh and say okay as she left. Hopefully a half hour would be a long enough.

“Well congratulations tabby cat, you made a friend.” Chris had said laughing.

“Yeah, but Peaches clearly scared her off.” Guacamole had said.

“Shut up Marvin.” Peaches growled. Ida had reminded him of someone and was relieved when she left.

“I hope she’s alright. She left in such a hurry.” Piers said, looking down the hall from the cabin they were in.

“She’ll be fine hop scotch. It would be better for her to go back to her own group anyway.” Peaches said, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know. It didn’t seem like she had any friends she was looking forward to seeing.” he said, worrying about a girl he met thirty minutes ago.

“And what makes you think that? You just met her. And why do you even care?” Although to anyone else, it might have seemed like the dark haired boy was mad, Piers knew he was just looking out for him.

“It’s just that, when I first ran into her, I saw a shield around her. A literal magic shield that I’m guessing she didn’t mean to make. When I said something to her, she jumped.” Piers sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know, I just felt like helping for a little bit.”

“She made a force field? It’s weird that she would make one but we learned them last year.” Marvin said. It was put into the curriculum to teach fourth years the protego spell.

“But it wasn’t just a normal protego spell. It was a stronger version. Who would take the time to learn that, then make them randomly if they felt safe?” He said.

Piers had recognized the spell because it was the same one his mother had used seven years ago to protect him when his uncle had tried to attack them before the battle at Hogwarts.

“Well, whatever she’s afraid of, it’s not our business.” Peaches said but more sounded like he was convincing himself of the fact rather than his friends.

_Whatever she is afraid of, I hope it had nothing to do with the few death eaters that are left._


	3. I guess I was born yesterday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mistakes were made and a baby face leads to complications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I forgot to post the story earlier but here it is

“It’s alright Kain. I still have time.” Ida said to her cat that she had let out of his kennel. She was in the bathroom so she thought she might as well let the little  grey cat stretch his legs. 

“So, all I should have to do is cast this spell on myself which will make it look like I didn’t lose any weight. I know the counter charm so hopefully I don’t explode myself.” Ida looked at Kain and thought about what her spell book had said. 

“I would rather end up hurting myself than you, Kain.” she took a deep breath, before changing her into her uniform that was too loose on her. She didn’t wear her yellow tie with the ensemble and decided to just wear a black one. 

_ Deep breaths. It will be fine. Just say  _ _ Engorgio _ _ with a flick on your wand and then point it at yourself. If it starts feeling like too much pressure, use the shrinking charm and you’ll go back to normal. It's simple.  _ Ida told herself. _ 1... 2... 3... _

“ Engorgio !” Ida yelled. 

Slowly, as the spell took effect, she started swelling. It wasn’t a lot but enough that she got her baby face back. She didn’t feel any building pressure and it looked like the swelling stopped. 

Ida looked in the mirror closely. She wasn't chubby by any means, not that she would mind having more weight. She looked healthy. That was a new look on her ever since the last year.

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Now, time for my hair.” 

Ida took a clump of her overly long hair and ran her fingers down to the length she liked. 

“ Diffindo !” she called and watched as her red hair fell to the ground. She did that a couple more times with more hair until all her hair ended evenly right below her shoulders. 

“What do you think Kain?” she asked, looking down at the kitten that was sniffing the excess hair on the ground. Her clothes fit her better and her hair looked neater. Maybe she could actually pull this off. As long as she gets settles into her room right away, no one will see the spell wear off. 

Ida added a little bit of blush since the color in her face had drained out but didn’t do any other makeup. Due to her short stature and rounder face, Ida looked younger than she really was. The engorgio charm didn’t emphasize her curves at all so her chest stayed relatively flat. She looked like she hadn’t hit puberty yet. 

“This could be a good thing, Kain. Maybe then everyone will think I’m a third year or something and just leave me alone.” Ida said, brushing out her hair again. 

“All I have to do now is clean up and by that time we will be at Hogwarts.” 

Ida cleaned up her hair, put Kain back in his crate, and packet you the rest of her things including her wand. She walked off the train with her things all neatly stacked on her cart again. It was a large crowd and she couldn’t see where she was going because of how short she was. 

It was like this every year. Getting of the train was always worse than getting on. She didn’t spot anyone in her grade to follow so she just went with the flow of the crowd until someone grabbed the hood of her uniform. 

“Hey, red head, first years go to the boats.” The person holding her hood had said.

“Oh but I-” 

“No excuses. Get in the boats.” he said, lifting her luggage. She didn’t have a choice other than to follow her cat to the boats.  _ Do I really look that young?  _ Ida asked herself, worried as she went across the river in the boats with the first years. 

All the first years were so excited and fawning over all the cool things they got to see for the first time while Ida was just sitting back, thinking about all the things that the first years didn’t know was coming for them. 

_ They will eventually have to notice that I’m not a first year. At least when they call names, I know I won't be called.  _ Ida thought to herself. No one ever believes her, even when it comes to just what age she is. 

They got inside and started calling names. Ida wasn’t paying attention and she was just waiting for all the new students to get sorted into their houses. She was just looking at the ground when it got really quiet in the room. She looked up to find that everyone was looking at her. 

“Come on, everyone is waiting on you.” Someone said, pushing her up towards the stool. Headmistress McGonagall had had a long day already and wasn’t paying attention when she, despite Ida’s protests, sat her on the stool and placed the sorting hat on her. 

“SLYTHERIN!” The sorting hat called with only a moment’s pause. 

Ida immediately took the sorting hat off her head and stood up. Everyone seemed confused. 

“But  Headmistress McGonagall ! I’m already a student in Hufflepuff!” she said. That's when students that knew her realized who she was. Siblings looking alike was a usual occurrence but she didn’t have a sibling to share similarities with. 

“Ida Morton? What- how... hmmm this does put us in a predicament.” the  Headmistress said . “We will have to discuss this after the sorting. Go wait in my office.” She had told Ida who then nodded and walked away to grab her things.

As she walked through, she could hear the Hufflepuff’s muttering about her. Many of them were saying how they knew something was off with her. How she couldn’t have actually been a Hufflepuff. Some of them just insulted how young she looked and how stupid she was for getting in the first year's group. It was so suffocating. Words and voices all of them belonging to people in a house of friendship and  loyalty but just, not to her.

But then, she heard something different from the group of students she was walking past. It was tabby cat.

“Does that mean I can’t call her scaredy-puff anymore?” The question genuinely made Ida want to laugh. She kind of hoped that she would get to be in the Slytherin house just to talk to Piers more often. Along with many other, constantly adding, pile of reasons. 

Ida just was pondering on what it would be like in the Slytherin house rather than thinking about how she was going to explain to  Headmistress McGonagall about what happened. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of steps approaching her and a door closing.

“Mrs. Morton, could you simply explain to me how you ended up in this situation?” the  Headmistress asked Ida.

“Well, I was late off the train because I had forgotten to change into my robes so when I got off, I was stuck in the crowd. Someone had pulled me back and took my things to the boat without listening to me. That same thing kept happening so I gave up trying to say that I wasn’t a first year. I didn’t think I would get up on stage because my name wasn’t on the list. I hadn’t been listening so I still don’t know whose name had actually been called. Then you put the hat on me.” Ida summarized quickly, leaving out the part about using an enlarging spell on herself. 

“I see.” Headmistress McGonagall said, pondering over what she should do. While the Headmistress was thinking, Ida took a moment to look at herself and realize that her spell had worn off at least a half hour ago. She was back to being painfully skinny again but at least she wouldn’t have to talk to the Headmistress about it.

“Mrs. Morton, you must understand, we cannot argue with the sorting hat. I don’t know how this happened and why your house changed, but you have to join the Slytherin house for your fifth-year here.” Those words were exactly what Ida wanted to hear but she tried to stay serious.

“I understand.”


	4. The Grass is Greener

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ida spends her first day as a Slytherin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where I saw the idea where the Slytherin common room had windows to show into the river and could see the Silkies but I'm going to say that it's true and use it in my story.

Since the battle of Hogwarts, many Slytherin families had pulled out their children from Hogwarts. It was understandable to Ida why some parents would want to do that. But because of the fewer students, Ida got a room to herself. She was happy that she wouldn’t have to be stuck with anyone for the rest of the year but that might make it harder to have friends. 

She let Kain out of his cage as she started decorating her room. Suddenly her strange obsession to exclude the color yellow seemed prophetic rather than annoying. Her long sleeves were really helpful in the cold dungeon. 

Ida put up some of the fairy lights she packed and a couple other colored things like a blanket, stuffed animals, and a poster. When she was done it looked and felt more like a bedroom rather than a dungeon. Kain’s things were set up too with his food and bed. 

“Speaking of food, I didn’t eat all day.” Ida said to herself. It wasn’t like she was hungry. She had forgotten a couple days over the summer to eat at all. “Oh well, I missed the banquet anyway. I don’t want to head in now.” 

Ida just put on her purple and black pajama’s and put her scarlet hair in a bun with a scrunchie. It ended up looking more like a ponytail since she wasn’t used to her shorter hair yet. She didn’t have many things green in her bag so she decided to write a letter to her parents asking for some more green clothing. 

Being a Slytherin somehow felt more right to Ida. It was a juristic change from the stereotypical nicest house to the evil one but it made her happy. Maybe people would think she went to the dark side and fear her. Just the thought of it made Ida laugh because, although she does really want people to fear her, if she won't be respected then she would rather be feared. 

She walked down into the common room that was just covered in green and grey. The one really cool thing was the glass window looking into the river that she had crossed only a couple hours earlier. It was pretty mesmerizing to watch the fish swim and the kelp sway. It was beautiful but also added to the coldness of the room. 

“Maybe I should warm this place up a bit.” Ida said to Kain, who was at the moment wandering around the room looking for something to climb on. She looked in the storage closets and found a big lamp that was probably used for a spot light or something. She found a quilted green blanket and a couple extra white pillows. 

She lit the fire place and tended to the wood for a few minutes before she started setting up her nest. She scootched a square table next to a couch and packed the pillows on the side of the couch that was touching the table to create a soft dent for her to lay in. She grabbed the blanket she found, a book, and a small snack she had grabbed while on the train and sat down. 

By the time she had read a couple chapters, she started feeling tired but didn’t want to stop reading and head back up to her cold room. Although Ida doesn’t remember when, she had fallen asleep on the couch in the Slytherin common room. 

… 

Did she fall asleep out here? Piers asked himself when he finally got back to the common room. He set the plate he was carrying down on the table by Ida and softly knelt by her. 

“Scaredy-puff?” he asked quietly, slightly shaking her arm to wake her. She slowly shifted and reluctantly opened her eyes. Piers could see a small forcefield popped up for a moment when she had woken up but then it disappeared. 

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. What time is it?” she asked, sitting up slightly and yawning. 

“It's about midnight. We all just got back but I brough you some food. I had assumed you didn’t get anything to eat since you weren’t at the banquet.” He said, standing up and grabbing the plate. When she saw the food her eyes lit up, but she was still hesitant to take it. 

“Are you sure that’s alright?” Ida asked, worried like she was going to break some rule. 

“Yeah, plus I already brought the food.” Piers responded. She gladly took the plate and started eating. 

“Thank you,” she said softly. He sat down in a chair across from her and nodded with a smile. 

“What did Headmistress McGonagall say about your whole double sorting deal?” He asked, clearly interested in the outcome of her answer. 

“Oh, I see, you only got me food as a bribery.” Ida joked, pretending to be offended. “But she was oddly calm when I think about it. She had me explain how I got there and just told me that for the next year, I’m a Slytherin.” Piers seemed happy for a second but hid it for some reason. 

“So you’re here all year?” he asked. Ida could tell what he was getting at but didn’t exactly know why he was so invested in hanging out with her. 

“Yep, the only thing I need now is a green tie and an intense hatred for Gryffindors and then I’m ready to go.” Ida teased, still eating the food he brought her. 

“You can borrow one of mine until you get your own.” Chris had said, walking towards them after having changed into his pajama’s as well. 

“Hey Brad,” Piers greeted. 

“Don’t start a conversation now! Why are you two even staying up? Go to bed!” Ida said, tossing one of her pillows at Piers. 

“Well, you’re one to talk, what are you still doing down here?” Chris asked. Ida held up the plate of food that she was eating. 

“Very important.” Piers nodded with her before they both started cracking up. Chris and Piers both started talking a little about something that happened during the banquet while Ida finished eating. 

“I might go to bed now,” Ida said, yawning and starting to move the table back to where it had been before. 

“Good idea,” Chris said, getting up as well. Piers followed suit and grabbed the plate before saying good night and heading up to his room with Chris who was bunking with him. 

“Come on Kain, time to go to bed.” 

She fell asleep with ease after snuggling into her bed with her stuffed animals and extra blanket. The cold air felt nice on her face while the rest of her body was warm. 

“Sweet dreams,” Ida whispered to Kain who was purring softly right by her. 

… 

Light music could be heard through that walls as Ida woke up. She thought it was a radio until she remembered that electronics don’t work in Hogwarts. Who on earth is up and singing at 4 am?! Ida thought as she grumpily, but still curiously, got out of bed. 

It wasn’t coming from the wall that led to other rooms but rather the wall facing outside. The water that she could see through her window was too dark to see into. 

“It must be one of the merpeople,” she hummed and walked over to her window, wrapped up in her blanket. Ida put a candle right by the window and a sketch book. She knew she wouldn’t be sleeping with the noise so Ida just decided to sing with them. 

Ida just hummed with the merpeople and mindlessly sketched something. It wasn’t until she heard the humming pause that she realized what she was drawing. It was a merperson. She wasn’t what the muggles would have pictured a merperson as but Ida thought the drawing was pretty. The yellow eyes reminded her of the purring kitten beside her and the green hair looked like the kelp in the water. 

She looked up from her sketchbook and saw the merperson she had been drawing swimming Infront of her window. Her silver tail glinting as she moved from the candle light in Ida’s window. The woman started humming again and swaying. She was saying something but didn’t actually say anything to Ida. 

The red-haired girl decided to do something impulsive and ripped the page out of her note book and held it up to the window to show the mermaid. She seemed pleased. The mermaid put her grey toned hand on the window beside the picture and smiled. 

“M-ma-Marilee.” She heard the mermaid say. Ida tilted her head to the side. 

“Ida.” she responded but her voice sounded different. 

“Ssleep,” Marilee said humming. Her silver tale started swaying with the new tune she was softly carrying. Ida was terrified of open water but the humming, the warm candle light, and the mermaid’s swimming was calming.


	5. The early bird gets the lack of sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a different look at the story from Piers point of view and the questions he's been having about Ida.

Piers woke up startled for some reason. He was feeling uncomfortable and uneasy so he sat up and looked around. It wasn’t what he was seeing that was unordinary, but what he was hearing. The selkies were singing a different song.  _ Why?  _

Piers got up to try and find where the  selkies' songs were originating from. It wasn’t coming from the boy’s dormitories so he went down to the common room. He didn’t see any silkies in the morning lit water. It was just fish and kelp. 

He kept walking around the room in circles until he noticed the song was louder by the girl’s dormitories.  _ Does this have something to do with Ida? Is she alright?!  _ Piers panicky thought. Every student knew that they couldn’t go into the other gender’s dorm area because the stairs would turn into a slide, but there are ways to avoid that. 

The year after the Hogwarts battle, when they were renovating and fixing things during the school year, some seventh year Slytherins added in hidden monkey bars into the ceiling of the stairs into both dorm rooms. And the stairs didn’t matter if they weren’t touching the ground. 

Most students didn’t use them but Piers was worried about Ida and the silkies. He climbed up, avoiding the stairs, and knocked on Ida’s door. 

“Ida?” he asked worried. The singing was definitely the loudest by Ida’s room. When Piers didn’t get a  response, he twisted the door  knob . “Ida, I’m coming in.” 

The room was lit because the candle was still burning on the ground. What else was on the ground was a  notebook with a torn page and a bundle of blankets. 

_ Oh, that’s Ida.  _ Piers realized after walking over to the blankets.  _ What is she doing on the ground? _

“Ida?” Piers said, lightly shaking her. The singing had stopped and he saw a glint of silver outside Ida’s window, but he was more worried about why the song changed rather than who was singing it. “Ida,” Piers repeated. She soft  stirred for a moment before opening her eyes. 

Her panic was clear as soon as she became aware of her surroundings. Ida’s eyes were wide and she jolted up, pushing Piers away in the process. He had seen the shimmer of a shield starting to form again.

“I’m sorry for startling you Ida. The Silkies were acting weird and I was worried about you so I came in when you hadn’t responded after I knocked.” Piers explained, reaching back out to her. Ida calmed down and let him scootch closer. 

“So why are you on the floor scaredy-puff? And leaving a candle burning at night is dangerous.” Piers asked and lifted the candle off the ground. Ida rubbed her eyes slightly and laughed nervously. 

“Well, I was singing along with a mermaid and accidently fell asleep.” She said, hoping he wouldn’t think she was weird for doing so. Piers was relived and found it funny how she called them merpeople.

“I wouldn’t call them mermaids but I guess that’s just because muggles use that to describe something completely different so it means something different to me.” Piers said smiling. All the books always called them silkies so he called them that too. 

“I think they prefer being called merpeople. At least from what I’ve seen.” Ida said kindly. She was looking out the window for some sign of the mermaid she had seen before but didn’t find a sign of her new found friend even with the sunrise lighting up the water. 

“Really? I wouldn’t know, my brother had told me to avoid them since he was a first year when they were involved in the Triwizard tournament.” Piers explained and Ida just smiled softly but with a hidden emotion that Piers couldn’t place.

“I think they are nice.” she said. 

“You seem to know from experience. Have you met them before?” the blond boy asked, leaning against Ida’s bed. She glanced at him and then looked out the window again. 

“Ah, n-no. Today was the first time I met a mermaid. I’ve just read a lot about them in stories and things in my free time.” Ida lied. She wasn’t exactly excited for anyone to know how she met them before. 

“Alright,” Piers said and paused. “Do you want to go down to the common room for a bit before everyone else gets up?” he asked. They were both already awake so there wasn’t much point in sleeping for ten more minutes. 

Ida sighed and looked around her still  unfamiliar room. 

“Yeah sure, why not.” she shrugged, getting up. “But, can we get changed into our uniforms instead of our pajamas first?” Ida laughed. Piers had totally forgot that he was still in his pjs and felt slightly  embraced about it. 

“Right... good idea.” He said, laughing. 

Piers left Ida’s room and touched the stairs so that it would turn into a slide. He sat down and slid until he reached the bottom with a grin on his face. It was always fun to go down the  girl's dormitory stairs. 

The sun was shining brighter through the windows. The refection through the water and glass danced across the stone floor of the common room. Every once in a while, a small rainbow would form for a moment then be washed away. 

Piers hurries up to his room and put on his uniform. As he walked into his room, Chris stirred in the bed on the right side of the room. 

“What are you doing up right now? You’re never up early.” Chris asked, tiredly sitting up. He noticed Piers  hurriedly getting dressed.

“Oh well the Silkies woke Ida and I up and we decided just to get up.” Piers said, his voice muffled by the shirt going over his head. 

“Okay, I am normally up by now anyways.” Chris said after stepping off his bed. “Ida needs a  tie still right?” he asked, getting dressed. 

“Yeah.” Piers said. He looked in the mirror and attempted to tame his blond hair with a comb with no avail. “Hey Brad?” 

“Yeah, what?” Christ answered, already dressed and tying his tie. 

“Have you ever heard the Silkies change their tune?” Piers asked. Chris was pondering on the question for a moment. 

“Yeah, a couple times, I guess. Last year I had heard them change their songs every once in a while, and I think my first year as well.” Chris responded. “Why’d you ask?” they were both walking out of the room with an extra tie in hand. 

“They were singing something different this morning. I’d never heard it before.” Piers answered. 

“Maybe you should ask Damian about it later.” Chris suggested. 

“What would Peaches know about this?” Piers asked as they walked down their stairs. 

“He knows an odd amount about Silkies. I think he even speaks  mermish .” he said. 

“I’ll ask him about that later.” Piers said as they reached the common room. Ida was already there, working on French braiding the right side of her  fiery red hair. 

“You’re finally back.” Ida said, glancing over her shoulder. “Oh, hey Chris. Did Piers wake you up?” 

“Not really, I’m normally awake by now.” Chris paused. “But I came down to give you my tie.” He held out the green striped fabric and Ida gladly took it. 

“Thank you!” She said, quickly slipping it behind her head and setting it down without tying it. Piers and Chris looked at her for a moment as she fixed a couple frizzy stands of her hair and tucked them back into her braids.

“Ida, do you know how to tie a tie?” Piers asked. She looked at him funny.

“Yeah,” she laughed. “But maybe you don’t,” Ida said, flicking Piers poorly tied tie. Chris snicked as Piers realized that he had flipped his tie so the seam was showing. 

“Brad, why didn’t you tell me?” Piers  complained after taking off his tie.

“I didn’t notice,” Chris said, still laughing with Ida. She tied her tie  perfectly and tucked it under the collar of her shirt. 

“Have you idiots been up all night talking?” Someone asked, walking down the stairs to the boy’s  dormitories . 

“No, we just got up Damian.” Chris said as the dark-haired boy approached. Damian looked like he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and then stubbed his toe on the corner of a wall. 

“So that’s your name...” Ida said. She had only heard him being called Peaches but the guys hadn’t even realized it. 

“Oh right, Piers introduced him as Peaches.” Chris laughed. A couple more people started filling into the common room and they decided to get moving to get breakfast. Chris and Ida were walking ahead of Piers and Damian and talking about what their favorite breakfast was at home. 

“Peaches,” Piers said. Damian looked over at him. “Have you ever heard a Silkie change their song?”


	6. Early Morning Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New incite as through Damian's eyes he starts to see things about Ida.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is posted a couple hours late. This chapter is from Damian's perspective although the POV is still 3rd person. New ships will be introduced and if you have a favorite later on, feel free to comment.

(Previously~ Piers: have you ever heard a selkie change their song?)

“You mean like this morning?” Peaches asked. 

“So, you noticed it too? Why would a Silkie change their song?” He said, hoping Damian would know.

“They sing to communicate. If they change their tone it’s because they want to tell someone something different.” Damian responded. 

“Well then, what would a Silkie want to say to Ida?” Piers asked, mostly just thinking out loud.

“They were singing to her?” the  dark-haired boy asked.

“Yeah, that’s why we were up in the common room so early. They had been singing to her.”  Piers explained . 

“That’s weird. Mermaids don’t nor-”  Piers cut Damian off. 

“You call them Mermaids too?” he asked.

“Yeah, they seem to respond to it better than being called a Silkie.” Damian said but was confused when the  blond-haired boy chuckled. 

“That’s almost exactly was Ida said this morning.” he said. A look of worry passed over Damian’s face when he heard what Piers said. He glanced a few feet ahead where Ida was walking with Chris. 

“She calls them Mermaids?” Damian asked, still looking at Ida. 

“Yeah, I thought it was unusual. You two are the only people I know that call them mermaids.” Piers said. Damian looked away from Ida and hid his worry with his usual  sneer . 

“I’m hungry, can’t you two fetuses walk faster?” Damian grumbled to Ida and Chris.

“I can see why you call him peaches.” Ida said sarcastically but laughing and smiling afterwards. 

_ That smile.  _ Damian couldn’t help but think-

Before Damian could trail off in his own mind, he had run into Chris’s back as he had stopped walking. 

“Finally, we’re about to get some damn food.” Damain mutters. 

“Peaches,” Piers gasped, “You can’t cuss. We have little people around.” He said, covering Ida’s ears and making fun of her  height . 

“I’m not that short,” Ida responded as she shooed his hands away. Piers laughed and patted her head. He would have ruffled her hair if it wasn’t in tight braids still. 

“What’s your favorite thing to eat for breakfast, Ida?” Chris asked. 

“Hmmm, probably waffles or muffins. Of course, with fruit and other things but like Waffles are really good.” Ida said laughing. She normally didn’t eat breakfast to get a few more minutes of sleep but she would wake up early to get waffles any day. 

“Alright!  Finally someone else who likes waffles,” Chris said, giving Ida a fist  bump. “Waffle gang!” 

“Wait there are people who don’t like Waffles?” Ida asked, pretending to be shocked but ending up  giggling . 

“I prefer pancakes,” Piers said. He immediately got a loud gasp from Ida and a chuckle from  Chris . 

“You see what I have to deal with? These heathens who think eating a mixture of wheat and egg is better than a crispy, light waffle with syrup and fruit.” Chris says. Both of them were cackling at this point while making fun of Pier’s food  preferences . 

“You are all wrong. Pancakes and waffles don’t even begin to compare to a fruit parfait. It tastes better and is healthy for you.” Damian said. 

“Okay peaches, we all know you only ate toaster waffles as a kid. Those are basically card board.” Piers laughed, patting Damian on the back. He looked ready to kill someone but he stayed put anyway. 

“Well, I would have to agree that a strawberry or peach parfait in the early morning is great, but waffles are still my favorite.” Ida said smiling. She used to eat them before going on walks in the early mornings. 

The line of people filling into the hall was starting to die down and they made it into the dining room. Ida started walking but felt a tug on her arm.

“We sit over here scaredy-puff,” Piers said with a smile, reminding her that she was no longer a  Hufflepuff . 

“Oh, right,” Ida said, laughing nervously as she followed him. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Piers laughed, “I would probably go to the wrong table too if I had been sitting at it for the past four years.” Damian and Chris nodded. 

“I guess so,” Ida said. 

They sat down at the Slytherin table furthest from the door. It was a good spot during assemblies but on normal days it just makes it a hassle to leave the room. Even though it was more frustrating than other tables, it was supposed to be like the popular table. Ida had wished they would sit at a different table but followed them anyway. 

Voices around the lunch room could be heard. A couple people from the Hufflepuff table could be heard, clearly hoping to have Ida listen to everything they were saying. Ida was so used to it at that point that she just tuned them out and ate the  cereal appearing in front of her. 

Piers, Chris, and Damian all looked at her but she ignored that too. They were quietly eating for a little bit, all of them being unsure of what to say, until a girl with purple hair sat down next to them. All of the boys noticed Ida’s  shields being put up again. 

_ She’s so  _ _ guarded _ _ around people but she’s trying so hard not to be.  _ Damain found himself thinking.

“Hey! You’re the new girl, right?” the purple haired Slytherin asked. 

“Hmm? Oh yeah,” Ida said  nervously . 

“Well, I’m Juno! It’s nice to meet you- ah what’s your name again?” Juno asked excitedly.

“Umm my name is Idella. It’s nice to meet you too.” Ida responded, less excitedly. The boys hadn’t heard her full name until now so it seemed like a shock that she introduced herself with it. 

Juno reached out a hand that Ida hesitantly took and they shook hands. Juno didn’t seem to notice the hidden look of panic on Ida’s face but Damian did. 

“Oi, Plum hair, that’s enough. Just sit down and eat your damn food.” He growled. Ida felt relieved when Juno let go of her hand and sat back down. She quickly got back to eating her cereal before anyone else to say something. 

“Hey Juno. How’s your morning been?” Piers asked, friendly as ever. They both talked about their mornings and what they thought about the first years coming in but Damian didn’t pay attention.

Ida had stopped eating. She was just moving all the cereal from one side of the bowl to the other. When Damian saw  this, he grabbed an extra parfait and slid it into his bag. 

“Alright, if you dunces want to continue wasting time, feel free. But I’m heading back.” Damain said. Ida looked at the other two, wanting to leave as well but wasn’t sure if she should. Chris seemed to pick up on  it as well. 

“Yeah, I’ll head out with you. Ida? Wanna come with?” Chris asked. He knew Piers liked to stay and chat with people so he didn’t bother asking his to leave as well. 

“Uh yeah sure.” Ida said, getting up. She sighed in relief once she was out of the lunch room with the other two boys. 

“Why were you so on edge with Juno?” Chris asked curiously. “She might be energetic but she isn’t exactly what I’d call intimidating.” he laughed.

“Oh- She just reminds me a lot of someone I know. Even looks similar too.” Idella responded softly. “Do you think she noticed?” She didn’t want to have come off rude to the other girl, Ida just wasn’t used to genuine people. 

“No, Juno is very outgoing but doesn’t notice people's reactions to her often.” Chris laughed. “You don’t have to worry about it.” he smiled and patted her shoulder. Idella seemed  relieved when Chris told her that. 

When they reached the dungeon, aka their common room, Chris went through first after giving the code. But before Damian or Idella walked into the room, he stopped her. 

“Look I know you barely ate and I don’t want you to cause us to lose house points this early in the year just because you got hungry later and sneak in food.” Damian said, grabbing the parfait he took earlier out of his bag. “So, you should eat this.” 

He left with his usual sneer on his face after handing it to her and she just stood there.

_ What just happened? _


	7. Oh shoot a rat!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Guacamole has entered the chat*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might start having a character list at the beginning of every chapter just so it's easier to remember who everyone is but I will hopefully be editing these soon and fixing up a couple mistakes. I hop you all have had a great start to the new year!

Ida was standing outside the common room for a solid minute before she snapped out of her daze. Once she walked in, she headed up to her room to grab her leather bag and packed her materials for class plus a couple of her ‘just in case’ packets. Her little gray kitten was still sleeping from the night before so she decided not to bother him and set some food down in the corner of the room. 

Ida looked at the strawberry parfait in her hand and decided to eat it. She would feel bad if she didn’t eat something that was gifted to her. Plus, Damian was right, she didn’t eat much and hadn’t been eating much for months. And she looked in the mirror and saw in her face how different she looked from the last year. She used to look so lively and pretty but she didn’t really feel it anymore. 

While looking into the mirror, she fixed a couple loose strands of her red hair and put on her small gold earrings and clipped another one on the top of her ear. Jewlery wasn’t a top priority for Hogwarts students but the matching gold jewelry set that Ida had was for much more than fashion. She wished that she had worn it to breakfast that morning. 

She sighed, picking up her bag and tucking her necklace under her shirt. She started heading down the stairs and noticed how many more people were up.

Girls were all chatting and talking to each other, many of them only half awake. Ida had forgotten what crowded rooms were like. She would have expected the Slytherins to be a little less  upbeat and maybe more uptight but, boy was she wrong. 

“Hey Ida,” Piers said as he walked back into the common room. 

_ What a social butterfly. I could never talk to so many people in the morning and still have enough energy to smile.  _ Ida thought as she saw him wave goodbye to Juno as he walked over to her. 

“What books do we need for transfiguration this year?” Piers asked.

“We need the ‘A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration’ and the items listed on your schedule.” Ida said, checking her bag quickly. She could feel her heart beat quickening every time she thought about her  upcoming class.

“You must be excited to be able to see your Hufflepuff buddies during class though!” Piers said enthusiastically. Ida didn’t know how to respond to him. She wasn’t excited at all and the thought of seeing them again made her nauseous but she didn’t want Piers to know she didn’t have any friends there. 

“Hey Piers,” someone said from behind them, saving Idella from  Piers.

“Hey Guacamole,” he waved back. Idella had almost forgotten that there had been another guy on the train that day until she turned around and saw him.

“Hey Ida, how do you like being a Slytherin so far?” The boy nicknamed Guacamole asked. 

“I love it,” Ida laughed. “Everyone is a lot nice than I would have imagined. Especially to someone that they’ve never really met before.” 

“Well, compared to what the Hufflepuffs must be like, we couldn’t seem all too friendly.” Guacamole said, unknowingly putting Ida into another conversation that she didn’t know how to continue. 

“Hufflepuffs? Friendly? I never would have thought of that!” Ida said, smiling while talking sarcastically. Piers and his friend laughed without knowing the truth of her words. 

“Anyway, I have to grab my bag really quickly and then we can get going.” Piers said, walking off and leaving the two alone.

After a moment of  silence Ida spoke up.

“So, do you mind telling me your actual name? Unless you want me to call you Guacamole for the rest of the year.” Idella asked, laughing lightly. 

“Oh! Right,” the brunette boy stuck out his hand. “My names Marvin.” he said while smiling. 

“Nice to meet you Marvin,” Ida said as she shook his hand. 

“I see you’ve found out his real name,” Chris said, walking up behind them with Peaches by his side. Marvin chuckled.

“Yeah, I was in town the other day buying groceries and someone mentioned guacamole and I looked at them for a moment before realizing that they weren’t talking about me.” Marvin said. Ida and Chris started laughing where as Damain just looked at him like he was stupid... mostly because he was. 

“Thats all good for you but my mom thought I was gay because Piers kept writing the name Brad on my papers, and you know him with his fancy penmanship, and she just didn’t mention it until Piers called me brad in front of her! She literally thought I was just obsessed with some guy named Brad.” Chris said, shaking his head as Marvin and Ida lost it. Damain cracked a small smile but sneered again quickly.

“I love that for you and your mom.” Ida said, wiping a tear from her eye after her giggles calmed down. Piers finally walked down from his room and met up with them. 

“You guys ready to go?” The blonde boy asked. 

“Yeah whatever. It took you long enough to get down here.” Damain said. They all left the common room with their bags. The transfiguration classroom wasn’t too far from them if they used the moving stairs. 

...

Soon enough they reached their destination after Chris almost slipped when the stairs started moving again. Professor Abbott looked like he was chasing something around the classroom. 

“Shut the door! Shut the door! Quickly now, we don’t want her to escape!” Abbott said, scrambling around desks. 

All five of them quickly filed into the room and closed the door.

“What are you chasing Professor?” Ida asked. She had looked around but there wasn’t anything in the room that she could see. 

“A student had turned their rat invisible yesterday and she was put in my care until morning. Somehow, she got out of her cage and I need to find her!” The professor rambled. Chris was about to laugh until he felt something on his leg.

“ Aaahh !” he yelled, trying to throw the  invisible rat off of him. 

Ida laughed and grabbed the rat. She couldn’t see the pet but she could see the indent of her paws. Idella grabbed a small red dot out of her back pack and fed it to the rat. Slowly, everyone in the room could start to see the rat again. Once she was fully visible, Ida gave her back to the professor. 

“Now you don’t have to worry about losing her again.” Ida said smiling. 

“Why do you just happen to have that pill on you?” Piers asked, holding Chris in his arms since he had a fear of rats. 

“Oh, well I managed to turn myself invisible last year on accident and Professor Slughorn showed me how to make them. I have multiple antidotes to things in my bag and carry them with me just in case something like that happens again.” Idella explained. 

“Well, thank you very much Ms. Morton.” Abbott said, putting the rat back into her cage. 

“I think we’re overlooking something... How did you manage to turn yourself invisible?” Piers asked, laughing. Damian just grunted.

“Sometimes stupidity over rules normal magic.” He grumbled. A few Hufflepuffs entered the room and Ida quickly took a seat at a desk far away from them. The boys just went with it and followed her over before sitting in the adjacent desks. 

“I know this is weird, but could you call me Emma for the rest of this class period?” Ida asked the boys. They looked confused but said  yes anyway. 

_ Maybe, if they call me Emma, they won't notice and the enchantment will hold.  _ Ida  thought hopefully as more people came into the room.


	8. my favorite class

The boys thought Ida asked to be called Emma so that the Hufflepuffs might not notice her but that didn’t make much sense to him since they know what she looks like. _Or maybe the Hufflepuffs know her as Emma?_ Piers thought. 

“Okay so today we will be will be getting a glimpse at the things we will being learning this year. Your homework is simple. Just write about the things you want to learn about this year and what you are looking forward to learning about what I show you today.” Professor Abbott said. 

Everyone in the class started murmuring about what they were hoping to learn that year and making bets on what the professor would show in class. 

“Under everyone’s desk, there is a box. Each box will have two things that will be used for transformations and a note card that will tell you what the transformations are. Once you open the box and read the note, you will have to come up and I will demonstrate the transfigurations.” The Professor said kindly. His voice was loud but soft so to most it could be calming, but to Ida, she just felt anxious. 

Piers was the one sitting at the same desk as Ida so he leaned over to her. 

“Do you want me to be the one to walk up with our materials?” he asked. Ida just looked at him and then nodded gratefully. 

They all walked up one by one showing their objects such as a ferret that got turned into a feather duster, a gobstone that turned into a skunk, and a golden finch that turned into a golden snitch. All of the things were interesting but Ida couldn’t help but think about the poor animals that kept getting turned into something inanimate and then back alive. It must be painful or at least uncomfortable. 

The boys had noticed that throughout the class time, none of the Hufflepuffs mentioned Ida. It wasn’t a negative thing that they didn’t acknowledge based on what they heard at breakfast; no words were better than what they want to say. That is until the teacher called on her after class. 

“Idella, would you stay for a moment?” Abbott asked. That's when some heads turned and the nasty comments from the morning started being said again. 

_Crap, I forgot about the teacher saying my name._ Ida thought as she walked to the front of the classroom. Many of the students acted as if they had just realized it was Ida that had been sitting in the seat the whole class period. 

As Ida and the professor talked, Piers looked to his friends who were also waiting for Ida to get done. 

“Was it just me or did something happen when the teacher called Ida’s name?” he asked in a low whisper. All the boys nodded in response. 

“Do you think most of them just know her by her name and hate her for being moved to Slytherin?” Marvin asked thoughtfully. 

“I don’t know. At breakfast people were making those comments even when her name wasn’t mentioned.” Chris said sadly. It was so strange for them to hear how badly they talked about Ida. 

“So how could they recognize her across the lunch room but not in a classroom?” Marvin asked. That's when the idea popped up in their minds. 

“She is under an enchantment.” they all say simultaneously. 

“That’s why she didn’t want us to say her name. It breaks the enchantment.” Piers said. All the boys looked over at Ida who was still talking with the professor and then decided to stand next to her. Most of them weren’t paying attention to the conversation but were looking for possible enchantments on Ida. 

“Since you don’t seem to want a real reward for helping me with my rat problem earlier, I'll just make sure to add fifty points to Slytherin later.” the professor said to Ida. She just smiled and nodded a farewell. 

“Wow! Fifty point for Slytherin and it’s only the first day!” Chris exclaimed. “We could have used you in our house the past couple of years.” he joked. Ida smiled at the comment. 

_I could have used you guys as friends the past couple years._ Ida thought to herself. 

“So, what’s next?” Ida asked. 

“Potions class,” Damain said after looking at his schedule. 

“Oh, we have that with Gryffindor. Don’t we?” Marvin asked. They enjoyed having classes with their quote-on-quote rivals because the competitions they had always made class interesting. 

“I like potions class. Professor Slughorn is pretty great.” Ida said smiling. She had had bad experiences with potions class before but she was with Slytherin and Gryffindor now so she could hopefully enjoy the class. 

“Where is it though? I can’t ever remember how to get to the room.” Chris said. He seemed like the type to get lost easily. 

“It’s just down the hall.” Ida said laughing and walking ahead of him to point to the room. 

They all got to class quickly and sat down in the front of the class. Clearly, Ida wasn’t the one picking the seats in that classroom. Damian ended up being Ida’s desk partner with Chris right next to her. 

Once class started and everyone had gotten seated, Professor Slughorn spoke. 

“I always love the first day of the school year. I get to show all of you today the potions we will make later. Some of these are very uncommon and others are pretty standard.” He said loudly. 

“On your desks are small bottles. Each color has a different potion inside. Be careful to not ingest them since some are toxic to drink. Just gently lift off the cap and sniff each one and right down the smell with the corresponding color.” Slughorn instructed. 

Slowly, everyone in the class started sniffing and writing down answers. Many of them were clear and others not so much. 

Ida had written down guesses as to what potion she thought they were as well. When she reached the light pink bottle and sniffed it, she didn’t really smell anything. If it did have a smell, it was too faint for Ida to pin point what it was. 

Once everyone was done, their professor told them to share their answers with the surrounding tables. Everyone had around the same answers until it came to the pink one. All of their answers varied from a strong smell of a bonfire to Ida thinking it had no scent at all. 

“Alrighty! I’m sure all of you figured out what all the potions are minus a couple but I’ll go through them anyway.” Professor Slughorn went down the list of green and blue potions but then got to the pink bottle. All the guys looked at Ida and then at each other. 

… 

It was the Amortentia potion. 

“This potion, as you all know, smells like whatever you love most. Sometimes its smell revolves around a special memory, moment, or person that you love. It is a very strong potion....” the professors words started fading out as Ida’s heart dropped into her stomach. 

_I couldn’t smell anything... Maybe potions_ _won't_ _be my_ _favorite_ _class this year..._


	9. Only 24 hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY ABOUT POSTING LATE!!!!!!!! I'LL TRY TO BE ON TIME NEXT WEEK!

All the boys shared a look with each other but Damian didn’t take his eyes off of his desk partner. He had only  known her for a day but he already knew things that would take her months to admit. 

“Ida...” Damian said softly. She just kept looking at her desk. He couldn’t tell if she was even hearing anything else that was being said in the class.  _ Oh my god- is she holding her breath? She going to suffocate. I have to get her attention.  _ Damian thought.

“Hey, dumbass!” he whispered at her after lightly hitting her shoulder. 

“Hmm?” she responded, looking up at Damian. 

“We have homework to do, pay attention in class!” He said scolding her. Damian was really just trying to get her to stop thinking about what just happened. 

“Oh, right.” Ida said, putting on a smile and laughing a little.  _ Tch, don’t hide it Idiot. You’re just like her.  _

All the other boys were still processing what happened. They just couldn’t believe it. The three of them were thinking the same two things. 

  1. Who did this to her? What Hufflepuff could ever damage someone this much? And 2. She’s a Slytherin now and they will protect her no matter what. 



Class ended quickly after that had happened and the group headed out of the room. Ida was  pretty quiet but kept a smile on her face and she would nod along with what they would say. No one was bringing up either of the incidents in their classes that morning and decided to just head to lunch.

“Um, do we all have our next class together?” Ida asks quietly. She was scared she might be alone in it.

“Me and guacamole have it after third but Brad and Peaches have Defense against the dark arts with you!” Piers said happily. He was clearly only happy because he was about to eat lunch. 

“Okay,” Ida responded. 

They got in the lunch room and it was so much more crowded than it had been in the morning since they had eaten earlier than the rest of their class. It was loud and the sounds of forks scraping on plates wasn’t appealing to Ida. 

“I just realized we missed the owls in the morning.” Chris said. “I hope none of us had mail,” he laughed. They all sat down and started eating the food that appeared. Ida was really nauseous from her last class so she just snacked on some saltine crackers and sipped some ice water. After a little while, her stomach seemed to calm down and she got some berries as well. 

The crowded room made Ida uncomfortable but she also knew that it was hiding her from most people. Unless students were standing up, they probably couldn’t see her at all. 

“-but I’m telling you! The nerve of my little brother to tell Auntie Jane that the only thing her outfit was missing was THE INVISABILITY CLOAK?! It's insane that she didn’t kill him!” Chris said exasperatedly. Everyone that had been listening was bursting into laughter, even Ida and Damain were laughing. 

“ So, you have a little brother?” Ida asked when the laughter died down a little. 

“Yeah, an older one too but he already graduated.” Chris said. “Do you have any siblings Ida?” 

“Ah, no. I’m an only child.” Ida said lightheartedly. “What about the rest of you guys?”

“I have an older brother.” Piers noted. 

“I have two sisters. Ones older and ones younger.” Damain responded. “They are both brats.” Ida laughed lightly. 

“I don’t have any siblings either, but with all the pets my parents have, I feel like I have siblings.” Marven said laughing. Everyone started commenting about their pets and their relationship with their family. Some of them said their pets were favored by their mom or dad or was basically the golden child of their family. 

As Ida listened to them, she started thinking to herself.  _ I can’t believe that I’ve only known them for a day. I met them like 24 hours ago.  _ She almost started laughing to herself. It had  felt like at least a week had passed already. 

“What is everyone doing for the break after lunch?” Juno asked, having  arrived at the table only minutes ago. 

“I was going to check on Kain. He wasn’t up when we left for class and I want to make sure he isn’t causing trouble.” Ida said laughing softly.

“I was going to go to the library.” Chris answered. 

“Nerd,” Ida commented, still laughing a little. Chris rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I’m kidding, I’ll join you if you’ll let me.” Chriss nodded with a smile. 

“I was going to sleep,” Marven said. Everyone at the table felt that except Piers. Curse him and his stupid energy. 

“Okay cool!” Juno responded. They  finished lunch and all headed back to the  dormitories . 

“I’ll be right back,” Ida told Chris. She walked up to her room with her bag and called out for her kitten.

“Kain? Where are you?” she asked quietly. The little gray cat poked his head out from in between the pillows on her bed. Ida giggled at his ruffled fur.

“You’re still sleeping kitty? How tired could you possibly be?” She laughs and picks him up. The collar around his neck jingled slightly as she carried him down the stairs to where Chris was waiting. He chuckled when he saw the tired kitten. 

“So, this is what Kain looks like. I couldn’t see him clearly while he was in his crate.” Chris said, reaching behind Kain’s ears. He didn’t seem to mind Chris although he didn’t  normally like strangers and especially not guys. 

“Yeah, he’s being lazy so I’m going to take him to the library with us if that’s alright.” Ida said smiling at Chris.

“Yeah, of course!” They headed out to the library and chatted  along the way.

As they talked about their favorite stories and books that they’ve read, Chris started thinking the thing that everyone that day had had cross their mind. 

_ I’ve only known Ida for a day but it feels like we’ve always known each other.  _

_ - _

_ - _

_ - _

_ Maybe soulmates do exist, but in a different way than we thought they did. Like some people are destined to be friends. If so, I think we just found our missing piece.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if only I could add in pictures. I would add in the meme of "I've only had (ida) for one day but if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself."

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story line I've been wanting to write ever since I read Harry Potter. I will update once a week at least and I hope you enjoy the story!


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